Their newborn child brought Jason Graham-Nye and his wife, Kim, great joy and…a business inspiration.

The new parents were astounded to learn that not only are disposable diapers the third most common item in landfills, they aren’t biodegradable. Today’s diaper remains trash for 500 years.

“You start to think…what kind of planet you are going to leave your children,” Jason said.

Jason and Kim Graham-Nye (Courtesy of gDiapers)

The couple found an alternative: flushable, biodegradable diapers made by a company in Tasmania. They bought the rights to the product, tweaked it and moved from Sydney, Australia, to Portland, Oregon, a city “full of creatives” they figured would help them rebrand the product, Jason said.

They launched gDiapers in 2005 and quickly gained followers among environmentally concerned moms and dads. The gDiaper Facebook page now has nearly 90,000 fans.

Like many small, socially conscious enterprises, gDiapers depends on investors who want to transform an industry and support green technologies. Kim Graham-Nye acknowledges the challenge but concludes, “We’re doing something worthwhile.”

Let gDiapers and other green innovations inspire you during Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 17-23) and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which this year is happening in Marrakech, Morocco (November 19-21). These events celebrate people who create economic benefits for their communities.